PPP asks Jamali to prove majorityIslamabad, November 29Pakistan’s beleaguered Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, whose government has been reduced to a minority after a key ally withdrew support, discussed the situation with President Pervez Musharraf even as Opposition parties demanded immediate convening of Parliament for trial of strength.

Israel airlifts tourists out of KenyaKikambabla (Kenya), November 29Israel today airlifted at least 250 tourists and the bodies of three victims of a car bomb attack on a Kenyan hotel, even as medical teams and investigators poured into the east African country, an Israeli official said.

Israeli citizens arrive at Mombasa, Kenya airport during an evacuation by Israeli security
personnel in the early hours of Friday. — AP/PTI

Media warns of Nigeria’s ‘Talibanisation’Washington, November 29The large-scale violence related to the Miss World pageant points to Nigeria drifting towards “Talibanisation” and the USA needs to intervene to shore up that country’s fragile democracy, according to media reports.

Miss World contestant Miss India Shruti Sharma has a break from rehearsals at a west London film
studio
on Thursday. The pageant will be staged in London on December 7, after the event was moved from Abuja in Nigeria due to unrest.
— AP/PTI

Osama healthy, says Pak doctorNew York, November 29A Pakistani doctor, who has met Osama bin Laden twice, has said the world’s most wanted terrorist is healthy.

Pokemon's Pikachu balloon makes its way down New York's Broadway during the 76th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade
on Thursday. Pikachu was one of the 13 balloons to appear in the parade. —
Reuters

Pakistani Shi’ite Muslim children raise slogans condemning Israel and the USA during a rally in Islamabad on Friday. The rally was organised in protest against the Israeli occupation of the Al-Aqsa mosque and to show solidarity with Palestinians.
— Reuters
In video
(28k, 56k)

Lanka welcomes shift in LTTE’s
standColombo, November 29Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rani Wickremesinghe said today that the positions of the government and Tamil rebels on the framework for a political solution were “no longer incompatible,” raising hopes of success in the ongoing peace talks.

Sonia
presents Indira’s portrait to Oxford UniversityLondon, November 29Congress President Sonia Gandhi today presented a portrait of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Oxford University and described her as “an icon to a large number of women in many countries”.

Reporter held for links with arrested scribesDhaka, November 29A local reporter was picked up by the Bangladesh police for her alleged links with two foreign journalists arrested on sedition charges, even as a court granted permission to lawyers to meet the British and Italian journalists.

Astronomers unveiled a quick new recipe for creating big planets, using high-powered supercomputer calculations to show these gassy giants could form in hundreds of years, instead of millions. Most scientists have maintained that planets the size of Jupiter, the largest in our solar system, take several million years to coalesce out of the massive disks of cosmic debris that surround infant stars. But research published
on Thursday in Journal Science indicates that these monstrous disks tend to break up after just a few turns around their star.
— Reuters

Islamabad, November 29
Pakistan’s beleaguered Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, whose government has been reduced to a minority after a key ally withdrew support, discussed the situation with President Pervez Musharraf even as Opposition parties demanded immediate convening of Parliament for trial of strength.

Mr Jamali held an emergency meeting with Mr Musharraf last evening during which it was agreed that the government would try to seek the support of the pro-Taliban alliance of six parties, the MMA, state on-line news agency quoted officials as saying.

It also said that both Mr Musharraf and Mr Jamali were of the view that the government cannot be “blackmailed”.

Mr Jamali’s government was reduced to a minority after a 17-member strong Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) withdrew support and decided to sit in the Opposition last Wednesday.

Yesterday, the ruling pro-Musharraf party held talks with the MMA in order to garner the required majority.

The leader of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Makhdoom Amin Fahim, demanded immediate convening of Parliament to enable Mr Jamali to prove his majority in the House.

“It is for the government to prove its majority”, he told reporters in Karachi last night.

The MMA has reiterated that in order to gain its co-operation, Mr Musharraf should resign as chief of Army and abrogate the Legal Framework Order (LFO) which contained constitutional amendments that granted him powers to dissolve Parliament and ensured a role for the military in the governance.

Accusing the government of trying to split his party to gain support, Mr Fahim also warned stern action against 10 defectors of his party, who are supporting Mr Jamali.
PTI

Israeli Ambassador to Kenya
Yaacov Amitai stands in front of the bombed Paradise hotel,
some 25 km outside of the Kenyan city of Mombasa, on Friday.
— Reuters

Kikambabla (Kenya), November 29
Israel today airlifted at least 250 tourists and the bodies of three victims of a car bomb attack on a Kenyan hotel, even as medical teams and investigators poured into the east African country, an Israeli official said.

One more body was recovered late yesterday from the rubble of the bombing on an Israeli-owned hotel near the coastal city of Mombasa, bringing the total to 16, including the three suicide bombers.

“During the last hours we flew four Hercules planes to Mombasa,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Gilad Millo told journalists at the devastated beach hotel in Kikambala, north of Mombasa.

“They arrived with medical doctors, psychologists and police investigators. We brought a lot of blood,” Mr Millo said from outside the wreckage of the Paradise Mombasa Hotel, which was teeming with other officials from Israel, Kenya and the USA.

“We flew back 15 injured persons, three bodies and 235 others, among them 140 survivors and others staying in hotels of Mombasa. We also flew a Kenyan woman, badly injured, who wanted to be treated in Israel,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan police said today that a third suspect had been arrested in connection with the attack, in which a bomb-packed vehicle was rammed into the hotel yesterday morning, provoking vehement condemnation from around the world.

“The three, all foreigners of Arab origin, are being held for questioning over terrorist links,” police spokesman King’ori Mwangi said on the telephone.

Mr King’ori said a couple was arrested yesterday morning in a hotel neighbouring the bombed hotel, while the third was arrested at midnight in the centre of Mombasa.

In Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swore to avenge the deaths of Israelis who had been killed in Mombasa and in other attacks yesterday.
AFP

Washington, November 29
The large-scale violence related to the Miss World pageant points to Nigeria drifting towards “Talibanisation” and the USA needs to intervene to shore up that country’s fragile democracy, according to media reports.

Taking a grim view of the riots which left more than 200 killed, an editorial titled “Thwarting an African Taliban” in The Washington Post said, “If the Bush administration does not help Nigeria’s fragile democracy to manage its sectarian tensions and incipient violence”, a Taliban-style movement might take over large parts of the country.”

The daily pointed out that Nigeria’s 130 million people were divided roughly between Muslim northerners and southerners who were Christian or followed traditional faiths.

“Earlier, Nigeria was successful in managing this division reasonably. Politics was dominated by moderate Muslim generals with no wish to inflame religious jealousy. But in the past three years, Islam has taken a more radical turn in Nigeria, the daily said.
PTI

Colombo, November 29
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rani Wickremesinghe said today that the positions of the government and Tamil rebels on the framework for a political solution were “no longer incompatible,” raising hopes of success in the ongoing peace talks. Mr Wickremesinghe told Parliament in a special statement that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had declared that his objective was internal self-determination within a united Sri Lanka.

“This encourages me to believe that the political dialogue can be fruitful because the positions of the two parties are no longer incompatible.”

Mr Wickremesinghe, whose government revived a dormant peace process after coming to power in December, 2001, and has held two sessions of peace talks with the LTTE, saw a “paradigm shift” in the LTTE’s position.

Prabhakaran had in an annual address on Wednesday said self-rule and autonomy for the Tamil areas could be a possible alternative for a separate state, but warned that he could revive his campaign for independence if the demand was rejected.

The thrust of this shift was that the group no longer pursued relentlessly its idea of a separate state, but was willing to consider substantial power-sharing within a framework of a united Sri Lanka. The Oslo Conference had fulfilled the government’s objective of mobilising international support for a negotiated political settlement, taking advantage of the drastic change in the global environment after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the USA, Mr Wickremesinghe said.

“What we have achieved at Oslo is to transfer the solution of the ethnic conflict and related issues from the battle-field to the negotiating table,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.

He said the discussions held so far had enabled the parties to identify issues on which there were agreement and take note of potential sources of tension, while putting in place mechanisms to address problems. “We have now reached the stage when political issues can be addressed.”

Mr Wickremesinghe said at the next session of talks (December 2-5 in Oslo), the government delegation would take up key issues relating to the consolidation of the ceasefire agreement in force since February 23. “These will include the enforcement of law and order by the government agencies.”
PTI

London, November 29
Congress President Sonia Gandhi today presented a portrait of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Oxford University and described her as “an icon to a large number of women in many countries”.

“Indira Gandhi was no feminist, but she became an icon to many women,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said after unveiling a portrait of Indira Gandhi, her mother-in-law, at Somerville College.

Ms Sonia Gandhi presented the portrait to Dame Fiona Caldicott, Principal of Somerville College, following a request from the college. The portrait by Sanjeev Bhattacharya will be displayed at the college’s Margaret Thatcher Centre.

“It is a matter of pride to all of us Indians that Somerville College is honouring Indira Gandhi today,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said at the ceremony.

She noted that Indira Gandhi had returned to Oxford in November 1971 when an honorary doctorate was conferred on her. Indira Gandhi had been at Somerville College as a student, but she had not completed the degree course.

“There is something truly enduring about her,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said. “Eighteen years after her tragic death, she is still very much a living and powerful presence in our lives. Across the vast length and breadth of India she is still fondly remembered, especially by the poor, the weak and the disadvantaged.

“Millions reminisce vividly about her concern for their welfare and well-being. It is indeed a remarkable tribute to her life’s work and mission that her legacy is still palpably felt and affectionately recalled,” she said.

Ms Sonia Gandhi said: “Indira Gandhi’s place in history is assured. She was completely dedicated to making India a strong, a self-reliant and self-confident nation.

Later in the day, Ms Sonia Gandhi delivered the prestigious Commonwealth lecture arranged by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, affiliated to Magdalen College. The centre has Prince Charles as one of its patrons. IANS

Kathmandu, November 29
In yet another attack on educational institutions, suspected Maoist rebels today exploded a powerful bomb at the Vice-Chancellor’s office in Tribhuvan University, official sources said.

However, no one was injured when the bomb planted by the rebels exploded at 5.55 am on the ground floor of the central office building of the university, 5 km South of the capital, the sources said.

The entire three-storey building of the central office was shaken by the blast, damaging the financial administration section at the ground floor, they said.

But no damage was caused to the Vice-Chancellor’s room situated on the same floor. The office furniture and doors were damaged and windowpanes broken by the explosion.

The Vice-Chancellor, Mr Navin Prakash Jung Shah, was not present at his office during the blast. Tribhuvan University is the oldest
university in the country. PTI

Dhaka, November 29
A local reporter was picked up by the Bangladesh police for her alleged links with two foreign journalists arrested on sedition charges, even as a court granted permission to lawyers to meet the British and Italian journalists.

Sumi Khan, working for Dhaka-based vernacular weekly Shaptahik-2000, was taken from her office for her alleged involvement with the foreign journalists, the media reported today.

The Police, however, said Sumi Khan, mother of a minor child, was not arrested but was called in as per instructions from higher authorities for questioning.

A vernacular daily, The Jugantor, quoted Sumi Khan as saying that she did not know the two foreign journalists.

Meanwhile, a local court has issued permission to lawyers of the arrested persons to meet their clients. The request of consular access by British and Italian missions for their nationals are under process. PTI

GLOBAL MONITOR

14
KILLED IN SOUTH AFRICAN BUS CRASH
CAPE TOWN: Fourteen persons, four of them children, were killed and several others injured when a bus hit a goat and veered off a road near Cape Town late on Thursday night, the police said on Friday. “The bus collided with a goat that was standing in the middle of the road. It veered off the road and overturned,” police spokesman William Reid said.
AFP

16
SCRIBES SEEK RELIEF FROM GOVT
KATHMANDU: Sixteen journalists and human rights activists, who claim to have been victimised during the emergency imposed from November 27 last year to August 29 this year, have filed petitions at the Kathmandu district court demanding compensation from the government. The petitions were filed at the initiative of the newly formed Press Freedom Grand Jury and the Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies.
UNI

WIDOW
HIRES ROCKET TO DISPERSE HUSBAND’S ASHES
BERLIN: A German woman will blast her husband’s ashes into space on a Russian rocket to fulfil his last wish. Urte Mueller, 58, a nurse from Berlin, said she had paid a US company 11,000 euros to arrange for her husband Heinz’s ashes to be taken into orbit. About 10 grams will be sent up in a capsule the size of a lipstick. The rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan in January, 2003. Reuters

AIR
FORCE EX-CHIEF HELD FOR ASSAULT
DHAKA: The Police arrested the country’s former Air Force Chief, Air Vice Marshal Jamaluddin Ahmad, after accusing him of assaulting two air force officers in Dhaka’s posh Gulshan residential district, family sources said on Friday. The former Air Force Chief was on bail after the authorities filed corruption charges against him for his involvement in the purchase of MiG 29 fighter planes from Russia more than a year ago.
DPA